ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

September 29,

1975

INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER

COMPANY,

)

Petitioner~

v.

)

PCB 74—277

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

Mr. Alan

I. Becker and Mr. Jeffrey

L. Brown,

on behalf of

Petitioner;

Mr. Peter

E. Orlinsky and Mr. Thomas

R.

Casper,

or, behalf of

Respondent.

OPINION

AND

ORDER ~F THE BOARD

(by Mr. Goodman):

On July 31,

1975, upon the Board’s own motion for

reconsideration

in this cause,

the parties were ordered to

present briefs on the following issues:

1.

Whether the attainment date for National Primary

Ambient Air Standards for the State of Illinois is

May

31, 197~,and, if the answer to the foregoing is

no:

2.

What is tie attainment date for the national primary

ambient air st~indardsfor the State of Illinois under

Section 110 of the Clean Air Act,

42 USC 1857 et ~

In addition, ~ny person desiring to be heard on this

issue was invited to present a brief thereon.

The Board has received the briefs of the parties and

the presentationr of two other interested organizations,

Citizens for a Better Environment, and United States Environ-

mental Protection Agency.

In the aforesaid presentations,

the following dates were proposed as

the attainment date for

National Primary Aithient Air Standards for the State of

Illinois and in particular the date for the Chicago Metropoli-

tan Area for particulate emissions:

May 31,

1975

July,

1975

July

31,

1975

August

5,

1977

If anything became clear from the presentations in

response to our July 31,

1975 Order,

it is that the final

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attainment date

foi’ particulate emissions in the Chicago

Metropolitan Area for National Primary Ambient Air Standards

is not clear.

ThE. argument for the May

31, 1975,

date

revolves around the fact that approval for the major part of

the Illinois Implementation Plan occurred on May

31,

1972,

(37 Federal Register 10,863).

However, that portion of the

plan which provided for the attainment of the primary particu-

late standard fcr the Chicago Metropolitan Area was specifi-

cally disapproved due to an injunction which prevented the

Board from enforcing particulate regulation against comrner—

cial and residenti~lusers of coal in Metropolitan Chicago.

Roth Adam Fuel Comp~inyet al

v.

Pollution Control Board,

Circuit Court of Ccok County

72 CH 1484.

This original

plan, which was dis~.pproved,provided for an attainment date

of July

31, 1975.

On July 27,

1972, the Administrator

revised the plan by deleting the July,

1975 date and substi-

tuting “footnote A”

which provided “three years from plan

approval or promulgation.”

The substitution was made because

the July,

1975,

c’ate “was not acceptable”

(presumably due to

Roth Adam)

37 FR 15,083

(July

27,

1972).

On March 14,

1973,

Roth Adam was reversed by the Appel-

late Court of the First District,

10 Illinois Appellate 3d

756.

on October 22,

1973,

the Illinois Environmental Protec-

tion Agency communicated the fact of the Roth Adam reversal

to the USEPA in the form of supplemental information to the

plan.

Consequently,

on August

5,

1974,

the Administrator

revoked his prior disapproval of the portion of the plan

pertaining to particulate standards in Metropolitan Chicago.

39

FR 28,155

(Auqust

5,

1975).

Clearly, May

31,

1975,

is not the attainment date for

particulates

in Metropolitan Chicago since it must be assumed

that “footnote A”

re:~ersto the approval date of the revised

plan, that is August

5,

1974.

It is illogical to assume

that “footnote A”

refers to the approval date of the unre-

vised plan, May

31,

1972, because,

If that had been the

Administrator’s

inte:ition, instead of substituting “footnote

A” for the July,

1975, date,

he merely had to substitute the

May

31,

1975,

date.

In addition,

it must be noted that the

Administrator us?s

the May

31, 1975 date as the attainment

date for carbon mc~noxidein the Chicago Metropolitan Area.

The Board finds,

therefore,

that May 31,

1975,

is not the

attainment date of the national standards

for particulate

matter in the Metropolitan Chicago Area of Illinois.

It is not clee.r from the information before the Board

what date is the attainment date for the National Primary

Ambient Air Standards for particulate matter in the Chicago

Metropolitan Area.

t~owever, it is sufficient for the purpose

of this action that the attainment date is at least July,

~L975. The Board has been informed by a letter dated Septem-

~er

8,

1975,

from Robert B. Schaefer, Regional Counsel,

United States Environmental Protection Agency,

that the

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attainment date is July 31,

1975,

stating in addition that a

July, 1975,

date ha~consistently been interpreted by the

Agency to be July

31, 1975.

The Board finds that the final

attainment date for National Primary Ambient Air Standards

for particulate matter in the Metropolitan Chicago Area is

at least July 31,

1975 and,

therefore, there was no error in

granting variance from the particulate standards to Peti-

tioner until July 26,

1975.

The Order of June

6,

1975,

is

affirmed.

IT

IS

SO

ORflERED.

I,

Christan

L.

Moffett,

Clerk of the Illinois

Pollution

Control Board, her~hycertify the above Opinion and Order

were adopted on the

______________

day of

______________

l975byavoteof4’..~

Illinois Pollution C

ol Board

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